Angel
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Same Sad Refrain
Dec 04, 2006, 2:31:03 AM by Bob Gretz
CLEVELAND – Herm Edwards has worked hard in his short time with the Chiefs to change the team’s mentality. He’s tried to educate the players on the best ways to play the game as a team, with offense and defense working in concert.
The ideal was this: change their thinking so that by December, this team would be ready to make a run to the post-season, unlike their performances in recent seasons.
It was all working towards that goal until Sunday afternoon on the shores of Lake Erie. That’s when the Chiefs reverted to their old form, a style of play that allowed them to win just three of a dozen road games in December over the last five years.
They held a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter, but ended up blowing it and losing in overtime 31-28 to a Cleveland team that was not their equal in any manner, shape or form. The Chiefs had no business losing this game. None. It’s an embarrassment of major proportions.
Oh, and it was all so familiar. The Chiefs offense moved the ball and scored some points, but made key mistakes, like a Trent Green interception in the end zone, and then a Green fumble in the last minutes of regulation when they were trying to drive down for a game winning field goal.
But the results of this game must rest with the Chiefs defense.
Sunday’s game was a carbon copy of the problems that have plagued this defense on the road in December over the last five years. There was poor tackling. The worst example being a blown tackle by Ty Law that set up the Browns second touchdown and then a non-hit, no-wrap up tackle on an overtime scramble by Cleveland quarterback Derek Anderson that ended up going for 33 yards and setting up the winning field goal.
There was no pass rush pressure on either Anderson or the Browns starter Charlie Frye. Early in the game, the Chiefs knocked Frye down after the throw a few times. In fact, that’s when he suffered a sprained right wrist that eventually knocked him out of the game. But in the end, the Browns threw the ball 34 times and were sacked once, that one coming in the overtime.
Cleveland came into the game with one of the league’s least proficient offenses, an attack that was shutout last Sunday by Cincinnati. This was a team that had allowed the second highest number of sacks in the league, including 19 over the previous four games. The most yards they had totaled in any game this season was 302 and in only one other game did they go over 300 yards. They had 438 yards against the Chiefs.
It was all so familiar. The Chiefs were trying to write a new history. They failed. They showed themselves to be the same old traveling Chiefs. At 7-5 they remain in the chase for a wildcard spot, but with a pair of road games still ahead in San Diego and Oakland, it’s hard to give serious consideration to their chances.
As he discovered on Sunday, there’s a lot of work still to be done for Herm Edwards.
The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2006/12/04/gretz_same_sad_refrain/
Dec 04, 2006, 2:31:03 AM by Bob Gretz
CLEVELAND – Herm Edwards has worked hard in his short time with the Chiefs to change the team’s mentality. He’s tried to educate the players on the best ways to play the game as a team, with offense and defense working in concert.
The ideal was this: change their thinking so that by December, this team would be ready to make a run to the post-season, unlike their performances in recent seasons.
It was all working towards that goal until Sunday afternoon on the shores of Lake Erie. That’s when the Chiefs reverted to their old form, a style of play that allowed them to win just three of a dozen road games in December over the last five years.
They held a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter, but ended up blowing it and losing in overtime 31-28 to a Cleveland team that was not their equal in any manner, shape or form. The Chiefs had no business losing this game. None. It’s an embarrassment of major proportions.
Oh, and it was all so familiar. The Chiefs offense moved the ball and scored some points, but made key mistakes, like a Trent Green interception in the end zone, and then a Green fumble in the last minutes of regulation when they were trying to drive down for a game winning field goal.
But the results of this game must rest with the Chiefs defense.
Sunday’s game was a carbon copy of the problems that have plagued this defense on the road in December over the last five years. There was poor tackling. The worst example being a blown tackle by Ty Law that set up the Browns second touchdown and then a non-hit, no-wrap up tackle on an overtime scramble by Cleveland quarterback Derek Anderson that ended up going for 33 yards and setting up the winning field goal.
There was no pass rush pressure on either Anderson or the Browns starter Charlie Frye. Early in the game, the Chiefs knocked Frye down after the throw a few times. In fact, that’s when he suffered a sprained right wrist that eventually knocked him out of the game. But in the end, the Browns threw the ball 34 times and were sacked once, that one coming in the overtime.
Cleveland came into the game with one of the league’s least proficient offenses, an attack that was shutout last Sunday by Cincinnati. This was a team that had allowed the second highest number of sacks in the league, including 19 over the previous four games. The most yards they had totaled in any game this season was 302 and in only one other game did they go over 300 yards. They had 438 yards against the Chiefs.
It was all so familiar. The Chiefs were trying to write a new history. They failed. They showed themselves to be the same old traveling Chiefs. At 7-5 they remain in the chase for a wildcard spot, but with a pair of road games still ahead in San Diego and Oakland, it’s hard to give serious consideration to their chances.
As he discovered on Sunday, there’s a lot of work still to be done for Herm Edwards.
The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2006/12/04/gretz_same_sad_refrain/